tangent4ronpaul
10-02-2012, 04:23 AM
Telling the Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis From the Perspective of Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro
Innovative Transmedia Project Takes Visitors Behind the Scenes As Never Before
Media Inquiries:
Karen Lynch -- karen@armageddonletters.com, 401/354-9465
http://www.nsarchive.org
Washington, DC, October 1, 2012 -- The Armageddon Letters - a transmedia project (multiplatform storytelling) launched on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis - takes visitors behind the scenes during the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis, the most dangerous crisis in recorded history. The project is based at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and is led by the scholars and filmmakers -- long-time partners of the National Security Archive -- that were involved in the Academy Award-winning documentary, THE FOG OF WAR, and the Golden Palm Award-winning, VIRTUAL JFK.
The Armageddon Letters refers to the unprecedented exchange of letters and other communications between Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro, before, during and after the crisis.
Watch the latest short films from the project, Be Khrushchev (http://youtu.be/N8hLWDdvBm8) and Be Castro (http://youtu.be/NHVpuhApSC0):
The Armageddon Letters project provides the empirical core of an argument often made by former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara: The indefinite combination of nuclear weapons and human fallibility will result in the destruction of nations, possibly all nations. This leads to the following takeaways for us now, in the 21st century:
* Nuclear Armageddon is possible. As a matter of historical record - not merely hypothetical scenarios or other projections - it is now known that a catastrophic nuclear war nearly happened in October 1962.
* Nuclear Armageddon is possible even if no one wants it. In a crisis of this urgency, a series of conscious decisions that would seem unthinkable under normal conditions becomes likely as the pressure to attack first becomes almost too much for leaders to bear.
* Armageddon must be made impossible. The combination of nuclear weapons and human fallibility will eventually result in nuclear destruction if these weapons are not abolished.
Painstakingly researched and historically significant, The Armageddon Letters is the first major academic project that adopts a transmedia model. The project's research unfolds on multiple platforms: a book, graphic novels, short films , podcasts (by James Blight and janet Lang), and blogs (by Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro). The Armageddon Letters is counting down to the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis @armageddontweet
Subscribe to, follow, or "like" the project and keep up to date:
http://www.armageddonletters.com/
https://twitter.com/armageddontweet
http://www.facebook.com/armageddonletters
http://www.youtube.com/armageddonletters
Order The Armageddon Letters book directly through Rowman & Littlefield at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442216792 for a 35% discount. Use promotion code 4M12BEEN at checkout for 35% off - this promotion is valid until December 31, 2012. (This offer excludes eBooks and cannot be combined with any other promo or discount offers.)
What people are saying about the book:
"The portraits of President Kennedy, my father, Soviet Chairman Nikita Khrushchev, and Cuban leader Fidel Castro are intimate, totally believable and instructive. Based on decades of careful research, this is a work of sober history that reads like a horror novel with an almost miraculously lucky outcome. I could not put it down."
-- Sergei N. Khrushchev , Senior Fellow Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, author of many works on the life and career of his father, the former Soviet chairman Nikita S. Khrushchev, including Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower.
"For over a quarter century Jim Blight and janet Lang have earned the gratitude of scholars and the interested public by highlighting and preserving the human dimension of the Cuban missile crisis, the most dangerous moment of the twentieth century. With The Armageddon Letters , they are now brilliantly connecting the IPad generation to Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro and to the lessons of that near nuclear catastrophe."
-- Timothy Naftali , coauthor of "One Hell of a Gamble": Khrushchev, Castro & Kennedy, 1958-1964.
"Manga meets the Missile Crisis in this compelling book. Through a creative mixture of illustrations, imagined conversations, historical analysis, and the actual letters written by Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro, Jim Blight and janet Lang enable readers to intellectually understand and emotionally feel what happened in the dark days of October 1962."
-- Scott D. Sagan , The Caroline S. G. Munro professor of political science, senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University, and co-author (with Kenneth Waltz) of The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed.
Download an excerpt from the book from our posting.
Read today's posting at the National Security Archive website - http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20121001/
Find us on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/NSArchive
Unredacted, the Archive blog - http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/
__________________________________________________ ______
THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals.
______________________________________________
PRIVACY NOTICE The National Security Archive does not and will never share the names or e-mail addresses of its subscribers with any other organization. Once a year, we will write you and ask for your financial support. We may also ask you for your ideas for Freedom of Information requests, documentation projects, or other issues that the Archive should take on. We would welcome your input, and any information you care to share with us about your special interests. But we do not sell or rent any information about subscribers to any other party.
-t
Innovative Transmedia Project Takes Visitors Behind the Scenes As Never Before
Media Inquiries:
Karen Lynch -- karen@armageddonletters.com, 401/354-9465
http://www.nsarchive.org
Washington, DC, October 1, 2012 -- The Armageddon Letters - a transmedia project (multiplatform storytelling) launched on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis - takes visitors behind the scenes during the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis, the most dangerous crisis in recorded history. The project is based at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and is led by the scholars and filmmakers -- long-time partners of the National Security Archive -- that were involved in the Academy Award-winning documentary, THE FOG OF WAR, and the Golden Palm Award-winning, VIRTUAL JFK.
The Armageddon Letters refers to the unprecedented exchange of letters and other communications between Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro, before, during and after the crisis.
Watch the latest short films from the project, Be Khrushchev (http://youtu.be/N8hLWDdvBm8) and Be Castro (http://youtu.be/NHVpuhApSC0):
The Armageddon Letters project provides the empirical core of an argument often made by former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara: The indefinite combination of nuclear weapons and human fallibility will result in the destruction of nations, possibly all nations. This leads to the following takeaways for us now, in the 21st century:
* Nuclear Armageddon is possible. As a matter of historical record - not merely hypothetical scenarios or other projections - it is now known that a catastrophic nuclear war nearly happened in October 1962.
* Nuclear Armageddon is possible even if no one wants it. In a crisis of this urgency, a series of conscious decisions that would seem unthinkable under normal conditions becomes likely as the pressure to attack first becomes almost too much for leaders to bear.
* Armageddon must be made impossible. The combination of nuclear weapons and human fallibility will eventually result in nuclear destruction if these weapons are not abolished.
Painstakingly researched and historically significant, The Armageddon Letters is the first major academic project that adopts a transmedia model. The project's research unfolds on multiple platforms: a book, graphic novels, short films , podcasts (by James Blight and janet Lang), and blogs (by Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro). The Armageddon Letters is counting down to the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis @armageddontweet
Subscribe to, follow, or "like" the project and keep up to date:
http://www.armageddonletters.com/
https://twitter.com/armageddontweet
http://www.facebook.com/armageddonletters
http://www.youtube.com/armageddonletters
Order The Armageddon Letters book directly through Rowman & Littlefield at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442216792 for a 35% discount. Use promotion code 4M12BEEN at checkout for 35% off - this promotion is valid until December 31, 2012. (This offer excludes eBooks and cannot be combined with any other promo or discount offers.)
What people are saying about the book:
"The portraits of President Kennedy, my father, Soviet Chairman Nikita Khrushchev, and Cuban leader Fidel Castro are intimate, totally believable and instructive. Based on decades of careful research, this is a work of sober history that reads like a horror novel with an almost miraculously lucky outcome. I could not put it down."
-- Sergei N. Khrushchev , Senior Fellow Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, author of many works on the life and career of his father, the former Soviet chairman Nikita S. Khrushchev, including Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower.
"For over a quarter century Jim Blight and janet Lang have earned the gratitude of scholars and the interested public by highlighting and preserving the human dimension of the Cuban missile crisis, the most dangerous moment of the twentieth century. With The Armageddon Letters , they are now brilliantly connecting the IPad generation to Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro and to the lessons of that near nuclear catastrophe."
-- Timothy Naftali , coauthor of "One Hell of a Gamble": Khrushchev, Castro & Kennedy, 1958-1964.
"Manga meets the Missile Crisis in this compelling book. Through a creative mixture of illustrations, imagined conversations, historical analysis, and the actual letters written by Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro, Jim Blight and janet Lang enable readers to intellectually understand and emotionally feel what happened in the dark days of October 1962."
-- Scott D. Sagan , The Caroline S. G. Munro professor of political science, senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University, and co-author (with Kenneth Waltz) of The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed.
Download an excerpt from the book from our posting.
Read today's posting at the National Security Archive website - http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20121001/
Find us on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/NSArchive
Unredacted, the Archive blog - http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/
__________________________________________________ ______
THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals.
______________________________________________
PRIVACY NOTICE The National Security Archive does not and will never share the names or e-mail addresses of its subscribers with any other organization. Once a year, we will write you and ask for your financial support. We may also ask you for your ideas for Freedom of Information requests, documentation projects, or other issues that the Archive should take on. We would welcome your input, and any information you care to share with us about your special interests. But we do not sell or rent any information about subscribers to any other party.
-t